Filling composition.



JAMES FRANKLIN SOLLINS, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

Patented Oct. 15, 1918.

Application filed February 3, 1917. Serial No. 146,549.

(DEDICATED TO THE PUBLIC.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES FRANKLIN COL- LINS, a citizen of the United States of America, and an employee of the Department of Agriculture of the said United States, residing at Providence, in the county of Providence, State of Rhode Island, (whose post-ofiice address is Providence, Rhode Island,) have invented a useful F illing Composition.

his application is made under the act of March'3, 1883, chapter 143 (22 Stat., 625), and the invention herein described and claimed may be used by the Government of the United States, or any of its ofiicers or employees, in theprosecution of work for the Government, or any person in the United States, without payment to me of any royalty thereon.

My invention relates to two closely allied methods of filling cavities made by excavating the decayed and diseased matter from decayed or injured spots in a living tree.

The cavity in the tree should first be prepared by removing all decayed and diseased material therefrom, and the surface of the cavity sterilized and water-proofed in any manner now known to the art. However, it is preferable to use melted asphalt for waterproofing, when asphalt mixtures are to be used to fill the cavity. Tar or paint may be used for waterproofing. Before putting the filler into the cavity, the waterproofed woody walls of said cavity may have nails or better large staples driven into the wood for about half their length in scattered positions, which nails or staples will serve as anchorages and hold the filling more firmly in contact with the waterproofed woody walls of the cavity.

After preparing the cavity as described, I fill said cavity by one or the other of two closely-allied methods, depending primarily upon the size of the cavity.

First: Some hot plastic or adhesive sulr stance, such as asphaltum (asphalt), pitch, resin, or some similar substance, is mixed with small fragments of wood, such as sawdust, wood pulp, excelsior, shavings, or vegetable fiber, or with suitable granular mineral matter, such as sand, fine gravel, ground coral, or crushed shell, until no more of these fragments can be colored or coated by the hot plastic substance. This hot, pasty, granular mass is then placed in the previously prepared cavity with a trowel or other suitable instrument, and pressed firmly into place, before it cools to any great extent, with a tamping stick of a size and shape suitable for use in the particular cavity. The surface of the filling can be smoothed off to conform with the general contour of the adjacent woody part of the tree with a greased trowel or small paddle, before the preparation has cooled, or with a heated trowel, flat iron, or other suitable and convenient piece of hot metal after the filling has cooled.

Second: Some substance, such as lac, gum, or resin islissolved in a suflicient amount of any suitable solvent to make a thick fluid or varnish, and mixed with small fragments of wood, such as sawdust, wood pulp, excelsior, shavings, or vegetable fiber, or with suitable granular mineral matter, such as sand, fine gravel, ground coral, or crushed shells, and placed in the cavity before it stifi'ens or hardens.

In practice it will usually be more satisfactory and convenient, at least when only a small number of cavities are to be filled to purchase in open market the already mixed solutions of lac, gum, or resin, commercially known as shellac, elastic paint, varnish, etc., rather than to attempt to mix them as needed. The surface is finished off to conform more or less closely with the general contour of the adjacent woody parts of the tree. In finishing the surface a cloth or stifi' brush wet in the solvent employed to dissolve the gummy substance will often be found useful. Care should be taken to avoid using any solvent that is known to be injurious to the living cambium, bark, or sapwood.

The first method outlined above will be found more useful for large cavities and the second more useful for small or very small cavities.

From the foregoing, it is thought that the operation and many advantages of the herein described invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, without further description, and it will be understood that various changes in the size, shape, proportion, and minor details of the methods may 

